The Dragon Princess
by Crescent Moon Lady
Summary: After the Black Death, people were in need of supplies. The only thing they had though that they could trade was their daughters. Princess Christine was one such daughter. She was resigned to her fate. The only problem is, her family isn't exactly normal.


**Author's Note**: Yes, yes, I know, I need to be working on my other fan fic. , but this was an assignment for class that I thought you all might like. It takes place during the Renaissance. Also, I had no idea where this would go, so if it was supposed to go somewhere else, please let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I wish I own Ireland and dragons and such, and the mythology behind them, but unfortunatly for me, I don't. *Crying in a corner.*

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"M' lady, please, you will be late!" A harassed looking woman yelled into the garden at a young maiden. Said young lady replied, "You worry too much, Elisa."

The young maiden stood up from where she was crouched, brushing of the sky blue dress as she went. With one final look at the creature she had been petting, the lady walked over to where the maid was standing.

"You have a meetin' with Prince Lucas of England. After all, you must make a match. He is as good a prince as any for you, m' lady. Any who, it is up to you too…."

At this point the maiden interrupted. "I know. I know. It is my duty as a princess of Ireland to make a match that would benefit my people. We need the supplies that such a match would earn. We also need the assurances that we would not be attacked while we are still so weak after the Black Death. I understand all too well my duties to my people."

"Sorry, Princess, I didn't mean that you didn't. It's just that we all love you and we truthfully don't want this for you. Christine, you are still too young to have this burden placed on your shoulders. You deserve to have a chance to live, not be shackled to some puffed up pumpkin headed lout!" The maid was practically yelling by that point and was out of breath. The lady just laughed and picked up the creature she had been petting before and held it in her arms.

"Calm down, Elisa. I'm flattered that you all care so much, but don't worry. I have my friends that I can spend time with. They are whom my true loyalty lays with and should they be threatened, you know how I would react!" She started to run her hand over the creature's ears.

"Oh yes. We all know how you react. I believe the last time someone threatened one of 'em, they ended up taking a dip in the moat!" The maid recalled fondly, looking at her charge. "You would think a dragon would be able to take care of itself, though."

"They can!" Came the cheeky reply from the princess.

"Yes, well, it will be you hide that'll be skinned if you don't get a move on. The meeting is in only one hour and the ball is soon after. We have to get you ready."

"As you wish." With a sigh, the princess placed the baby dragon around her neck, where it curled around it, and followed the maid into the castle in preparation for the torture, I mean _meeting, _which was to take place. A meeting that would decide the fate of her people and herself.

"That loggerheaded, pox marked, ill nurtured, fen sucking, lout!" The princess yelled as she entered her room and slammed the door behind her. She was talking about that prick of a Prince of England. Just thinking about the meeting made her Irish blood boil and her hair to curl even more than normal. Christine sat down with a huff on her bed, but quickly hopped up when she heard a squeak from beside her. Picking up the little blue dragon, she sat down again, cradling it to her closely, trying to sooth the poor hatchling. All around the room, dragons of all different shapes, sizes, and colors peeked up from where they had hidden when she slammed into the room. They crawled over to the princess and curled up around her, waiting for her to tell them what was wrong. Looking around the room at her friends, no, her family, Christine could feel her anger at Prince Loggerhead rising again. After all, her anger stirred only when someone threatens her family, like he had done.

Taking a deep breath she said, "Okay. It started like this…"

**Flashback**

She hurried down the hall in some of her finest clothes. After all, she wanted to make an impression. Around her neck, Dracona tightened her coils in an effort to calm down.

"Shhh. Dracona, shhh. It's alright girl." The princess crooned softly to the little dragon. Slowly it unwrapped enough that she wasn't constricting Christine's breathing. Taking a deep breath, the princess stopped outside the door to the court room, where she would meet the Prince, mayhap her future husband, for the first time. Nodding to the court master, she straightened her hair and clothing for the last time.

"Announcing her Royal Highness, Christine of Clan Duncan, Princess of Ireland!" Proclaimed the court master as the door was opened.

Christine's first glance of the room showed to her it was filled with members of her father's court. The second glance, however, revealed to her a stunning young man, a few years elder then she herself. He had dark black hair tightly coiffured in an elaborate stile and he was quite well dressed. As she entered the chamber, he made an elaborate bow and took her hand. He placed a swift kiss on it and then he said, "My, had I known that such lovely flowers blossomed is such a land as this, why, I might have came sooner!"

The maiden blushed at his words, but not with embarrassment as he must have believed, but with a slight stirring of anger. He had insulted her land, after all! What happened next, though, made her want to grab her father's heavy war sword. He had made a move to kiss her hand again when Dracona lifted her head a made an inquiring chirp at the Prince.

The Prince leapt back in horror and continued to back away from the Princess, saying as he went, "What is such a," the Prince paused and then a disgusted look appeared on his face, "_beast_doing in here? It should be killed immediately!"

The Princess stood in shock for a moment, which probably saved the idiots life. Her father knew what would happen and, trying to save the worthless prince's life, grabbed onto his daughter and said to the Prince, "The dragons are fairly tame and peaceful," _at least the hatchlings are_, he thought mentally, "and they won't harm anyone." _At least, the dragons won't unless you hurt their own._ The king thought it best not to mention the other creatures his daughter was fond of playing with, such as the griffins, unicorns, and faeries.

The prince should have kept his mouth shut. The king had given him the perfect out and yet he couldn't keep quite.

"When I am king, I shall have them all disposed of, in all the lands!" With that, the meeting just kept getting better and better.

The meeting was rather long and tedious, with the Prince making a fool of himself. He kept bragging about his triumphs is battle and how good a shot he is. It was ssssooooooo boring to the poor princess. The worst part was he kept making sly remarks about the dragons. It got to the point that Dracona couldn't take any more and flew out the nearest window, making Christine nervous. She hated it when the little hatchling was upset, and even more so when they were separated. For three hours she put up with that braggart until she couldn't take any more and ran out of the chamber.

**End Flashback**

"So that's what happened." She told the dragons and the faeries who had joined in the listening.

"Why don't you just tell the King that you think he's an idiot?" asked Frilla, a spring faerie.

"My people need the supplies. After the Black Death, we need to import supplies from other sources. This is the only thing we can think of, since many of our merchants have went to work for other kingdoms. Then, those who have set up shops charge outrageous prices. It's just one giant disaster!"

"Then what's the problem," Chazz, a fall fae, asked.

"The problem is that he hates dragons and I won't risk them! And think, if he is so against Dracona, how 'twould he react to ye fae?" The princess replied.

With a huff, Chazz settled down into her pillow. Then, withan squeak, he fell backwards and disappeared! Several cries of "Chazz!" flew around the room and Christine pulled away the covers to find a very red-faced Chazz in between the pillows in what looked like a cave.

"I'm okay. I'm fine." He said, before passing out from the shock.

The princess gently picked him up and settled him next to Dracona, who curled up around him. All of a sudden, the princess got a suspicious twinkle in her eye.

"I have an idea!" With that, everyone in the room gathered closer to the girl and listen to her outline her plan.

**Later, At the Ball**

Princess Christine looked around in boredom. Not only did she have to put up with Prince Pollock, as she had come to call him, but she didn't even have Dracona to keep her company. So that her plan would succeed, she'd had to leave Dracona in her chambers. Yes, she had separation issues. All of a sudden, the bell chimed 10 of the eve, and all types of magical catastrophes broke loose. All types of pranks, from plants growing from the floor, courtesy of the fae, to fire balls dancing around the celling, thanks to the dragons.

With everyone running for cover, no one noticed the lone figure of the princess running through the gardens. Soon she reached a strangely shaped outcropping of rocks and settled in to wait. She didn't have to wait long until several unicorns came to give her company. Then the fae closely followed. Then, at long last, her dragons joined her.

Getting up, the Princess started to lead them deeper into the woods and father away from the castle. Holding a dragon egg in each hand, she had to extremely careful of her footing, though every time she slipped, one of her family always caught her. After many long and tiring hours of walking, the Princess stopped. Turning around, she looked at her family one more time to make sure everyone was watching, and turned and walked through a rock wall. Noticing that none had followed she turned around and yelled back at them, "Come on, we haven't got all night, 'ave we now?" Slowly, one by one, they walked to her and disappeared behind the rock wall.

The cavern was nice and smooth, and very warm. There was a place to set fire so that the eggs could be kept warm, and several alcoves. Many plants had obviously decided that it was a good home as well, so there was plenty of the as well.

Turning towards the creatures, the Princess asked, "Well, what do ya think?" All of a sudden, she was surrounded by creatures as they expressed their approval of their new home.

The next day, Prince Lucas left with nary a word to aught, except for his mutterings about 'mythical, magical nonsense!' It was quite amusing.

Princess Christine turned towards her father and asked, "Whoever is next?" With a rather malicious smile on her face, after all, the next one was going to have an even harder time, since his trial was by fire.

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**Crescent Moon Lady:** If you want me to make a sequel, just let me know!

_**Please Review!**_

*It makes me really happy!*


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